A Love like Ours
by kailunthecat
Summary: The war is over. The wizarding society as we have known it have been left in ruins. Hermione, Ron, Neville,Luna and Seamus have been recruited as aurors for the Ministry of Magic, Harry has been emotionally blackmailed into being the ministry's poster boy, and Draco's on the run. What will it take for them to see what path they should follow or rather who? Draco/Hermione, Ron/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Terri sat outside the coffeeshop with a book and a cup of coffee at her side. She sighed filled with contentment. She couldn't believe she found this place! It was exactly the type of place everyone dreamed of finding in Paris. It was a small coffeeshop/bookstore. The selection of books was small, but impressive. There was even a small collection of English translated books by French literary heavyweights such as Alexander Dumas and Victor Hugo.

Tragedy had forced Terri to leave America and build a life for herself overseas. She was doing well for herself. She hadn't found a job yet, which was okay since she was independently wealthy. The first few months had been hard, but she was slowly rebuilding herself and her life. She was even writing again. When she was little she had always dreamed of Paris! Her aunt had told her all about the Harlem Renaissance and how all of the greatest black American writers had gone to Paris. How they fell in love with the city and how a lot of them never came back to America. That was how it was going to be for her, she was going to have her own private Renaissance and it was going to start in Paris!

There was only one problem with Terri's plan. She didn't speak French. Not even a little bit. If she was going to live in Paris that was going to be a major problem. She hired a private tutor instead of taking a class. She didn't like being surrounded by people. Armand was perfect. He was an linguistics major at _ University. He spoke French, English and Spanish, the latter two almost fluently. And he was blessedly level headed. If there was one thing that annoyed Terri to no end it was _emotions_. The problem was that school was in session, so that he was only available once a week. He assigned as much work as he thought she could handle and he usually called her sometime during the middle of the week to see how she was getting along, but it still wasn't enough. At least not for Terri, but it was all that could be done at present.

Terri looked up from her book and out at the city landscape before her. Terri realized that the countless people that say that there is nothing like Paris in the spring are absolutely right. That's when they walked past her, rapidly speaking English with their cloaks flowing behind them. Honestly, she was a bit annoyed at the sight of _them._ "Hey, Red!" Terri yelled. They all stopped and turned to look at her. "Put your wand away. There are children around." They stared each other down for a moment before he put his wand inside his cloak and she turned her attention back to Edmund's escape from prison and her coffee. They were making enough noise in HER coffeeshop to wake the dead, but she did her best to ignore it. She was thoroughly engrossed in her book when Armand showed up.

"How's your French?"He asked taking the seat opposite of her.

"Just as bad as it was last week," she replied not looking up from _The Count of Monte Cristo_. Edmund had just been tossed into a watery grave!

"It's not going to get any better unless you start talking to people," Armand retorted while taking out last week's graded assignments.

"You know I don't like people!" she said in mock offense, even though it was kind of true.

"Yes, that's why your French sounds like bad Spanish. In addition to this week's assignment, you will have a conversation with three people in _French_ and write a report on them. And don't just make them up," Armand stated.

"Come on! Isn't that what I pay you for?" She retorted.

"You pay me for my expertise and my advice. Now, take my advice," Armand answered finally looking up from the cluster of papers that surrounded him." I'm going to get a cup of coffee. I'll be right back."

At that moment, the five cloaked figures exited the coffeeshop. From the look on their faces, they didn't find what they were looking for. Terri had finally folded down her page in _The Count of Monte Cristo_ and was taking out her French notebook along with that week's assignment, when she felt someone's intense gaze on her. She looked up to find two blue eyes bearing down on her.

"Excuse me Miss, may I have a word?" The red haired man in the cloak asked.

At that moment, Armand had returned and taken his seat. "Of course, lead the way. Armand would you excuse me for a moment?" She asked. Armand raised an eyebrow at the man's strange attire, but that's all. She was lead over to the entrance of an alleyway where the other cloaked figures stood.

"Now Miss, we're looking for a man—"The red haired man began in a crisp tone before she cut him off.

"Sir, where I come from it's considered rude to start interrogating someone before you've introduced yourself," she stated.

A look of impatience crossed his faced before he said, "Right. My name is Ronald Weasley. I'm an auror with the Ministry of Magic in the United Kingdom. These are my constituents."

Cops. She figured as much. She could always tell, magical or run-of-the-mill. It was a good skill to have especially when she was in college.

"We are looking for a war criminal by the name of Draco Malfoy. He's wanted for questioning…." It wasn't what he was saying that caught Terri's attention it was how he said the name, Draco Malfoy. His voice changed it was full of animosity when he said it. Terri could feel the years of rivalry and hatred as if they were taking place before her, right then and there. Whoever, this Draco Malfoy was Ronald Weasley was the wrong man to send after him. This is why Terri didn't like people, because she would come across something like this and she wouldn't be able to help herself she had to get involved. That's when she noticed how young they all were. None of them looked even a year her senior.

"Does this Ministry of Magic of yours, usually send pups straight out of the academy after war criminals?" Terri asked eyeing them suspiciously. Ron turned beat red with anger and a bit of confusion. Before he could say anything; however, one of his colleagues stepped forward. She had thick wavy brown hair that was pulled back out of her face.

"Miss, my name is Hermione Granger and I can assure you that we are quite capable of our job. We are veterans in the War against the Dark Forces and now we are trying to rebuild our society, but we can't do that until certain people are held accountable."

"Times of peace are not time times of war and you shouldn't send warriors to do the jobs of diplomats," Terri started, but Ron jumped in again.

"Look, have you seen him or not?" He asked his patience clearly at an end.

Terri couldn't help herself; she had to mess with him. Is this guy you're looking for tall? Just under six feet? With blond, almost white hair. A bit pretentious?"

"Yes! Yes!" Ron yelled with a hungry look in his eyes.

"Haven't seen him," Terri replied with a shrug.

"We can make you tell us," Ron stated taking a threatening step forward. He had gone too far and soon realized it. His companions silenced weighed on him.

"Do I look scared, Mr. Weasley?" Terri asked. She didn't really expect an answer, but he surprised her, when he shook his head no. "A wise man would ask himself why that is," She stated before she turned and walked back to her table.

The race was on. She had to find this Draco Malfoy before they did. In hindsight, she probably should have resisted teasing him. Now, they think she knows where he is, but hindsight in this case was useless.


	2. Chapter 2

"You shouldn't have threatened her like that, Ron," Hermione stated as they watched Terri walk away. Ron didn't say anything, he just apparated back to the office. At least they assumed that's where he went.

"Hermione," Neville started slowly. "He knows that."

"Why couldn't he have known it two minutes ago, before he pissed off the only solid lead we've had in months," Hermione yelled, before she too disappeared.

Neville, Luna, and Seamus were use to scenes like the one that had just played out. It seemed like the only thing that Ron and Hermione seemed to do those days was argue. Neville leaned against the wall and reflected on how fragile the balance of the golden trio really was. Neville couldn't decide whether it would have been better or worse if Harry was there with them. Everybody except Harry knew that the tension was there, it was palpable. You could almost taste it. Neville didn't understand why they tried to hide it from Harry, as if Harry was there child or something. Neville was brought out of his musings by Seamus.

"You know, he was right… We could…" Seamus started, struggling to find the words.

"No, we couldn't," Neville said trying to put an end to that nonsense before it went any further. "It's against the law and for good reason."

"She knows who he is. She's obviously helping him," Seamus begun.

"Why? Because she knows what he looks like? Because she recognized his name? Don't jump to conclusions, Seamus. We don't know anything yet," Neville stated with finality.

"Magic wouldn't work on her," Luna said. They had almost forgotten that she was there.

"And why is that, Luna?" Seamus asked sarcastically.

However, Luna didn't seem to notice. "She's being protected."

That got both Seamus and Neville's attention. "Dark magic?" They asked almost simultaneously.

"No, not magic," Luna replied.

Seamus had heard enough. He apparated right then and there. He never understood Luna and he never would. _Not magic,_ he thought to himself. _Ridiculous._

"Luna," Neville begun. "Only magic can stop magic."

"There are other forces in this world that are just as powerful as magic. We don't understand them so we call them magic too. Like love. Love isn't magic, it's something else entirely. We just call it magic." She paused for a moment and then picked up a crumpled piece of paper off the ground. She looked Neville in the eye, placed the paper in his hand, and said, "This piece of paper is magic." Then she too apparated.

Neville understood what she meant. Calling something magic didn't make it magic. However, that didn't change the fact that the only thing he had ever seen stop magic was magic. Neville looked down the street, at the coffeeshop where Terri was having her French lesson. _The next_ _couple of days are going to be very interesting,_ he thought to himself.

_Why did she have to do that?_ Ron thought to himself. He and Hermione were done. They were both just too stubborn to admit it. Nothing had been the same between them since the smoke had settled and they had started to rebuild their world. As much as it hurt him to admit it, it was Harry that held them together. Harry and Harry's prophesy. Now that it had come to an end. It ALL had come to an end. Now, there he was Team Leader to a bunch of aurors he was sitting in potions class with two years before. _Has it only been two years?_ _Hell, it feels like 20._ Hermione didn't think that he should be Team Leader. She never said it, but he saw it. He saw it in her eyes. He was just as shocked as she was when Kingsley chose him. When he was chosen over her. He didn't expect her to be happy about it, but he did hope she would support him. However, that didn't happen.

Ron found himself missing the old days. Sure, they were dark, but life seemed to have made sense then. He knew who the bad guys were. He knew who his friends were. And he knew exactly what he was working towards. Now, there was certainty in nothing. Now, he was estranged from his two best friends. This was exactly the type of situation he would have asked Hermione for her advice on, but there was no more going to Hermione for help. Not now and probably not ever.

Ron decided to stop sulking. Sulking never got anything done. He had learned that over the past ten years if nothing else. He needed a plan that would end in coffeeshop girl telling them what she knows about Draco Malfoy. And not just any plan, a good one, because he knew Hermione would be ready with every 'I' dotted and every 't' crossed.

_Once again, I'm the bad guy! _Hermione thought to herself. She felt like she was walking on eggshells whenever she was around him. _Since when is it a crime to criticize._ What did he expect her to do? Agree to every one of his idiotic decisions. Hermione, if pressed would admit to being disappointed by Kingsley's decision not to make her Team Leader, but she accepted it or else she wouldn't have been there. However, Ron was acting like she was plotting to take away his favorite toy.

Ron. It was becoming harder and harder to remember what she saw in him in the first place. She did remember that there was a point in time where she found passion and zeal appealing and his willing to rush head first into situation brave. Now, she had come to realize that the passion she had once found so appealing clouded his judgment and his willingness to rush into situations was dangerous and stupid. How could it be that she had once considered spending her entire life with that man? Ron, he had good qualities too. She knew that, but as time went on they were becoming less and less apparent to her. In all honesty, she missed their friendship, but she didn't think that they could go back to that. You could never go back, right?

Hermione scanned the bookshelf for something useful. She pulled out one book on American wizarding society and another on squibs in America. There was no book on how the War against the Dark Forces affected America though. She would have to go out and look for one. Hermione liked the strange squib, they met that day. The girl didn't trust easily and that was something Hermione could relate to. Hermione was weary of people who trusted too easily. Either they were easily deceived or they were trying to deceive someone else. Hermione picked up the book on American wizarding society first. Whether or not, she like the girl was irrelevant. The girl had information they needed and it was her job to extract that information.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A squib is defined as a person with little or no magical ability that is born to people with magical ability. Terri was a squib and she fell into the little magical ability category. Non-magical people would call her psychic and some would even call her lucky, but she knew the truth. She had the residue of magic floating around in her DNA and destroying her life. You see, Terri could sense people's emotions through their words and feel them. When the emotions were particularly strong she could even 'see' what had created them. That was how she knew what Draco Malfoy looked like. She saw their years of boyhood rivalry, she saw the different paths they had taken during the war (through Ron's eyes of course), and she saw the negative toll these negative emotions were taking on Ron. Strangely enough people liked to hold on to their negative emotions. They thought that the people they were angry with deserved their anger, contempt, or hostility. Or that their pain was a reminder of a lesson they should remember. Terri wished that people could just let these things go. Let it ALL go.

The _feeling_ of other people's emotions wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was what she was doing now. It was what she couldn't stop herself from doing. When a person had particularly strong negative emotions, the kind which enable her to see the cause of them, she had to get involved. It was a compulsion. If she didn't try to help them, it would feel like hundreds of bees were buzzing in her head non-stop. She had to help. It was the only way she could make it go away. When she was younger, her aunt took her to see a doctor and she was diagnosed with an acute form of OCD. She was given medicine and sent on her way. However, the medicine didn't help. Only one thing helped and she was doing it. Luckily, she tended not to run into people with such dense emotional baggage very often, but she would prefer never to run into these people at all.

It wasn't all bad. Positive emotions were hands down the best thing in the world. They were rejuvenating. They were good for you. They were _healing._ When she came across a cry of joy… well, nothing could mess up her day after that. The best one was when people felt joy through giving. It was that feeling you get when you do something that is completely and utterly selfless to bring someone else happiness. The joy of generosity could leave her feeling euphoric for a week. Strong positive emotions also helped to block out the negative one for a short period of time. However, positive weren't as frequent as negative ones.

There he was, Draco Malfoy. It was surprisingly easy to find him. He was actually listed in the yellow pages! Not as Draco Malfoy, but as Malfoy Draconian. It was laughable, but also really smart. You see, wizards relied on magic for everything. So, it was hard for them to imagine living without it. The aurors were looking for Draco in the wizarding world, but he had given up magic and they had never thought to check the muggle world for him.

The bar was dark and dingy. Draco sat in a back corner nursing a beer. It was warm inside but he kept on his gray trench coat and beanie. Terri made her way over to his table and took a seat. Draco was staring into his untouched beer. He didn't even bother to look up when she sat down. "You're barking up the wrong tree, sweetheart. I'm not looking for company."

"Good," Terri replied. "You look like you would make terrible company. That's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you here?" He asked. A smile touched his lips and then disappeared quickly.

Terri paused for a moment and then decided to tell the truth. It wasn't often that she got the chance to be honest in these first meetings. "I'm psychic."

Draco laughed at that and not just a little chuckle. He was bent over holding his stomach in laughter. Tears were even beginning to well up in his eyes, he was laughing so hard. So, she said, "You know, for a wizard, you have a very low tolerance for the supernatural." At the sound of the word wizard, Draco had stopped laughing and was abruptly on his feet.

"Calm down, they're not here. Well, actually I don't know. They might be here, but if they were here they'd probably be at our table by now, wands blazing."

Draco seemed to be of the same opinion, because he once again took his seat. "I thought you said you were a psychic. Can't you _SEE_ them?"

"I see the past, not the future," she replied.

"That sounds like a worthless gift to have," Draco snorted.

"You have no idea," Terri responded with a shake of her head.

"Why are you here?" Draco asked.

Terri then proceeded in explaining how her 'gift' worked and her encounter with Ronald Weasley.

"So, let me get this straight you want me to turn myself in, so that I can make up with Ron Weasley. So, that he can _feel better_ and you can get on with your life?" Draco inquired sarcastically.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. A win, win, win situation. Okay, let's go!" She answered.

"How is this a win, win, win situation? Weasel face gets to feel better, you get to move on with your life, and I'd probably end up in Azkaban. So, please explain to me how I win?" Draco solicited.

"You're running, Draco. Aren't you tired? It's been my experience that people that spend their life running want nothing more than to stop," Terri answered. After pausing a moment, she asked, "What's Azkaban?"

"Jail. I'm going to go to jail," He answered frustrated. "You're like the worst squib ever!"

"What did you just call me?!" Terri asked turning to him, her eyes wide as saucers.

"What? You're not a squib?" Draco asked.

"I don't know what a squid is, but I feel like I should be insulted. It sounds like bad seafood."

Draco chuckled and explained, "A squib is a person born to magical people, but doesn't have magical powers."

"Oh, you mean a KNMP. No, I'm a LMA," Terri clarified, seeing the look on Draco's face made her realize that it was her turn to explain. "KNMP stands for Knowledgeable Non-Magical Persons, while LMA stands for Limited Magical Ability. "

"So, you are a squib," Draco responded.

"LMA," Terri stated while shooting Draco a warning look. "You know, you seem like a decent enough guy, what are you running from?"

"I…" And that was all it took. Guilt, anxiety, despair, and depression hit her all at once. She saw it all; the weight of the burden he carried was overwhelming. The feeling of regret he felt for agreeing to take a job to murder his principle; even though in the end he didn't carry it out, the fear he had to conceal, while living with sociopaths, the atrocities he witnessed that he was powerless to stop, and the constant unending terror of waking up to find his mother or father dead. Throughout his memories, she couldn't see anything that he had done wrong. There were moments of cowardice, but all smart people turn into cowards when facing death.

"Draco, stop talking. I need to process all of this before my head explodes," Terri said while placing her head in her hands.

"You know…" Draco was mortified. He couldn't stand the thought of anyone knowing about what he was or what he did.

He started to get up, but Terri grabbed his arm. "Sit down, Draco."

"I need to go," He started.

"No, you need to sit down and let me tell you the one thing that you need to hear. The one thing that I'm the only person qualified to tell you. Draco, you didn't do anything wrong. You…You survived. You don't need to feel guilty about that. Anybody in your position would have done the exact same thing," Terri explained.

Draco and Terri sat in that dark dingy bar and they talked. In the end, Terri pleaded with Draco to turn himself in. Not for Ron's sake or even for her sake, but for himself. The only thing that Draco was guilty of was being a scared teenager. He didn't deserve the guilt he was carrying or to live the way he was living.

Towards the end of the conversation Draco admitted, "I would. If it was just me, I would, but what about my parents? My father definitely deserves to go to Azkaban, but he's my father and I won't put him there."

"I'm not following, why do you think you'd have to?" Terri asked.

"No one's going to believe me, unless I take _. That's—"

"Truth telling serum. I know," Terri finished waving him on to continue.

"Well, I can't risk that during my interrogation they ask questions about my father. They're not suppose to, but I don't trust them," Draco finished.

A solution presented itself to Terri almost immediately. Terri frowned to herself, she didn't want to do it, but her compulsion was pushing the idea at her and worse she was starting to think of Draco Malfoy as a friend.

"Why do you have your face all scrunched up like that?" Draco asked.

"I might have a solution, but I don't like it. It involves me getting even more engrossed in your world, being around _people, _and consorting with wizards and the likes." Terri huffed.

"Hmm… I like this plan already," Draco interjected.

"Shut up. So, what if I took the truth serum for you? I'm pretty sure, I know everything that they would ask you about and I could give just as good an account as you can. I don't know anything about your family, so I can't tell them anything," Terri proposed.

Draco sat back and thought about that. "What if it doesn't work? What if I go to Azkaban?" He asked quietly.

"Oh Draco, I'm not going to let them take you to jail!" The words were out of Terri mouth before she realized it. What surprised her even more was that she meant it. She wasn't going to let them put him in jail.

"Oh, is a little squib like you going to stop them?" Draco asked sarcastically.

"Yes. I'd stop them," Terri replied.

Draco stared at Terri. He realized that she was serious. She actually thought she could stop them from carrying him off to Azkaban. Then came a memory from what he had started to refer to as the dark times. A man from America had come to report to Lord Voldermort about why the Death Eaters in America were hesitating in taking over the squib communities on the outskirts of the wizarding world. The man had tried to explain that the squibs had power the likes of which he had never seen before and that maybe they should consider a truce. Voldermort had killed him right then and there. Squibs with power? The very idea had been laughable. Now, looking at Terri, Draco realized that the man's report must have been true.

"How?" Draco asked.

Terri smiled. "You have magic and I have science. Don't worry Draco; whether or not justice prevails you will still be free."


End file.
